General Shadow
Shadow is jack of all trades, known for his various skills in combat who has been known to have done a great deal of work for various superpowers within Verden. Biography Shadow has went through many occupational changes in his life. First, he was a thief when he was the young age of six, being forced to scavenge whatever sustanence he could from the city of Ur'Almen to survive. He also trained with the sword around this age, knowing he'd need some means to defend himself... but in his youth he simply couldn't bring himself to kill others. This didn't curb his enthusasim for theivery though; as he grew up, the thrill of the chase was enticing, and he started going for bigger and better "prizes." Some of these were sold on the black market so that he could buy a fully functional home for himself, away from the prying eyes of the Alliance. At least, until he raised the ire of a certain Dreadlord... for reasons unknown the tyrant was seeking the treasure of a very wealthy person, and Shadow happened to be there for the same reason. He easily defeated the weakened Dreadlord, but his revenge was quite swift, as on the way back home he and his cohorts had attacked Shadow's hideaway and ganged up on him. He couldn't defend himself from the onslaught of skillful swordplay and magic, and his burning home drew the Alliance soldiers. He was promptly arrested, and the Dreadlord gone without a trace. One of the Alliance generals offered Shadow an altimatum to his rotting in a prison cell: he would serve them as a Special Ops member. This blackmail would last quite a while, but it gave Shadow a chance to find out more about the Dreadlord without them breathing down his neck. He was acquianted with the dorms around this time, he felt it necessary to side with one of them in case he ever needed their help or if the Alliance suddenly turned on him... the only one that didn't seem bent on the destruction or conquering of everything was the Lost Woods, so he lent his assistance to them in secret. For the next while he spent time carrying out Alliance missions, as well as Woods jobs that involved messing with the other dorms; most notable was the Forsaken Fortress, being a member of two factions that the pirates loathed, he ran into them quite frequently. Tales of him capturing whole hordes of pirates and sinking large vessels quickly circled around Verden... but while he liked screwing the pirates over, he did it only so that his homes would be at peace. He greatly loathed working for the Alliance. Thus, when the chance came for him to wipe it out, he didn't dare waste it. The Dorms had forged a temporary alliance of their own and launched an all-out assault on the capital of Olimandias... or at least, that was the plan. Olimandias was supposed to be impregnable, yet they had somehow dragged their defensive lines away... by mercilessly attacking Ur'Almen. Shadow's home for eighteen years. No one was spared from the carnage... the young warrior's heart broke, its shattered pieces filled with spite for the one responsible for this plan, Selena Nadir. All that needed to be done was rough up the Alliance occupation in Ur'Almen to send people running, but instead they slaughtered even the civilians, just for the fun of it. Shadow refused to fight alongside people who would do such a thing, and resigned himself to the role of an observer... and what he observed was the second moment of heartbreak in this whole catastrophe: the rise of the Goddess Chikara when she was possessed by Lazu, who promptly destroyed the Lost Woods, his other home. These events had changed Shadow drastically. He vowed one day to get revenge on the new Goddess and her adopted daughter and put an end to this mindless destruction they caused. To that end, when these two created armies of their own, he joined the one that would be the best to plot his revenge from: Koridai, led by Chikara. It made sense; at least Selena was mortal and could have her existence ended whenever it was convenient for him, but Chikara would take something quite a bit more crafty. Until he could figure something out, as a General of her army, he would protect Koridai... amazingly, it was a haven under the false Goddess' rule. He doesn't fight for Chikara, but rather her people. He believes her and Selena to be nothing but bloodthirsty animals, much like their armies... or at least, he did for a time. Over the past little while, Shadow had been given a few reasons to think that perhaps Chikara isn't the monster, but rather the God of Chaos that resides within her. To defeat Lazu is indeed a formidable task, thus Shadow seeks power that can counter that of a God. In his search, he instead found an ally in the form of a great and powerful beast known as Phoenix. This partnership was a result of the Key of Fire that Shadow gained from one of the Dreadlord's cohorts upon her defeat. Shadow is currently 21 years of age and has made quite a name for himself in Koridai. With his most loyal soldiers and Phoenix by his side, he seeks as peaceful of an end to Selena and Chikara's war as possible, but is not afraid to use force to accomplish this task. Personality Shadow is a... unique individual, to put it lightly. Most of the time he is quirky and carefree, not letting unimportant things bother him; this includes even battles between other elite soldiers, opting to talk things over rather than fight. He fights only for sport and to protect his homeland; he bluntly refuses any and all orders to kill meaninglessly. Despite his laid-back attitude however, he is very cold and calculating, and will turn deadly serious when the situation calls for it. He laughs in the face of authority, never thinking of anyone as beneath or above him, not even Chikara; he even addresses her by her name instead of her title. Shadow has a soft spot for anything hot and explosive, and can sometimes be a bit greedy. Appearance Somewhat like the picture at the top of the page, with the following differences: -bright blue eyes -a black cape -a black sword -normal ears -purple hair Weaponry and Battle Techniques Shadow used to be a walking arsenal before the Cataclysm, concealing a myriad of powerful and useful tools and weapons within his magical tunic which can store a nearly infinite amount of goods. Nowadays, he travels lighter, but still hones his crafty and crazed mind to come up with devastating abilities. He has a relaxed fighting style, either waiting for his opponent to make the first move, or pre-emptively striking when it seems most convenient. Usually he'll spend more time talking than battling, finding ways to get under his foe's skin, all the while carefully analyzing how the enemy attacks, right down to fluctuations in their spiritual auras and their muscle contractions to predict their next move. He is famous in Koridai and notorious in Calatia for two things: his almost-inhuman speed and agility -- which is enhanced even further by a pair of magical boots -- and his ability to create fire out of nothing; the latter is always indicated by a transparent, red sigil of light that turns into this fire, but how it comes out is limited only by the imagination. He's been known to enchant his weapon with it. His lesser-known traits are his superb skill with the black-metal longsword he wields in battle and his tendency to use everything around him against his enemy; he'll throw everything including the kitchen sink if he wants to. He incorporates all of this into his fighting style, making him a deadly enemy in any instance. His famed attack is what he calls the "Killing Edge," where he runs circles around his opponent, causing a ring of fire to surround him, and then in his dazzlement, he strikes and carves the poor soul to pieces faster than the eye can make out. The basis of his style is to hit the enemy hard and fast, before they even know what's happening if possible. Sometimes he'll also take a slower and more crafty approach, but he's been known to get carried away in the heat of the moment... Other Things -Shadow's proficiency with fire doesn't cease when the Key of Fire is taken away; he retains all of the abilities he has mastered with it. However, he can't use as many spells without it. -Shadow constantly practices with his abilities and skills with the aim of learning new ones. He tries never to use the exact same tactic on the same enemy more than once. -His hobbies mainly include treasure hunting and tomb raiding. He collects the weapons and valubles he finds and displays them in his office room. -He tends to get seasick a lot, so he always tries to bring some ginger pills with him to counteract this. -When encountering and old friend or rival from the old dorms, Shadow prefers to talk things over with them rather than fight. He'll even chat with them while fighting against them. -He seemingly has an aversion to paperwork; it works him up to the point where if someone knocks on his door while he's working on it, he'll blow the door down. This has happened several times already. -He has horrible luck with finding living creatures as transport. They're always either sick, old or get themselves killed for some other ridiculous reason. -Shadow gets himself into all sorts of random and ridiculous situations when not being serious, and this is quite often. He is viewed as a bit of a clown as a result. -Something about the blood that runs through Shadow's veins gives him a heavy aversion to any attack that is light- or darkness-based. When having taken to many of these attacks, he loses all mental and physical control and attacks everything in sight for a while before losing consciousness. He has yet to determine the cause. Category:Player Characters Category:Citizens of The Lost Woods Category:Citizens of Koridai